The Brown & White

Last week at Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh's theatre department showcased new talent and gave new life to Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."

While the comedy was written in the 1600s and is set in the imaginary kingdom of Illyria, co-directors Augustine Ripa and Kashi Johnson contemporized the play to make it understandable to the audience by updating the music, costumes and means of communication.

"Adding in modern elements made the play so much more accessible," said Lindsey Brown, '10, who played the lead role of Lady Olivia.

"People weren't as stressed out or scared that they weren't going to understand it because the modern elements made it more comprehensible," Brown said.

For instance, the opening scene involved the Fool, played by Jon Hoffman, '13, "getting the party started" by having the audience clap to the beat and beckoning part of the cast to join him in a dancing frenzy to a music mix comparable to that of Girl Talk.

"It makes it a lot more fun and relatable to the time period. I enjoyed the music, especially the interlude music," Hoffman said. "I was also free to choose the songs the Fool sang and was able to create more of a theme for my character."

After the "bootydropping" beats, the play began. The underlying themes revolved around love and identity, Johnson said.

One of the subplots is based on a woman named Viola, played by Esperanza Pacheco, '13, who is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria and thinks her twin brother Sebastian, played by Sean Maloney, '12, drowned in the incident. She disguises herself as a male called Cesario and quickly becomes the favored servant of Count Orsino.

Lorentz Aberg, '13, played the lead of Count Orsino, a powerful nobleman who is lovesick for Lady Olivia. However, it seems he is more in love with the idea of being in love than Lady Olivia herself.

"A lot of the lead roles were won by freshmen," Johnson said. "Of the 17 actors, nearly half were won by first-year students. It's nice to see theater through new eyes."

Brown, who considered herself the veteran of the cast, played Olivia, a woman who is pining the death of her brother and continually turning down Count Orsino's attempts of courtship. In the identity confusion, Olivia falls in love with Cesario, who is actually Viola.

Brown said the play's rehearsal process was difficult, and it took her a little over two weeks to memorize her part because Shakespeare's play is written in an entirely different language- 17th century English.

Pacheco found that once she understood the lines, it was much easier.

"A big part of it is understanding the flow," Pacheco said. "Gus [Ripa] held meetings to make sure we understood every single line."

Hoffman, an engineering and theater major, found that his biggest challenge was not only memorizing Shakespeare's words, but also keeping up with his course load at the same time.

"I had over 100 lines to memorize and about two weeks until we went off book," Hoffman said. "It was a challenge to memorize all those lines, especially on top of keeping up with my math class."

However, throughout the play it was obvious the cast's hardwork had paid off.

Characters such as Malvolio, played by Elliot Ramos, '13, and Viola had monologues where they had to face the crowd alone.

As nerve-racking as that may seem for some, Pacheco laughed, "Monologues are fun to memorize. Monologues are easier for me than dialogues because you don't have to rely on cues from anyone else."

Eventually, the identities of the characters are revealed, and each finds love, with the exception of Malvolio.

Viola reveals herself as a woman in the final scene and marries Orsino, who has been fond of her all along. Olivia weds Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, who actually had survived the shipwreck.

While the production of "Twelfth Night" has come to an end, the actors will have the opportunity to take the stage again this school year with the spring semester's plays: "Seascape," directed by Allison Targoff, '10, and "Noises Off," directed by Christopher Bohan, '94, guest artist and director.

"I would be happy to get a part in either play," Brown, who will be graduating at the end of the year, said. "I'm so excited for the spring."

Pacheco said the opportunity to audition for a show, whether you are interested in that particular one or not, is important.

"It's good practice to express yourself," Pacheco said.

The youth of the talent showcased in the fall performance gives the audience and the directors something to look forward to.

"I'm excited to see what they'll do in the future," Johnson said.